Federal Transit Administration

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy sent a major transportation message to the U.S. Congress. It called for the establishment of a program of federal capital assistance for mass transportation. President Kennedy stated, "To conserve and enhance values in existing urban areas is essential. But at least as important are steps to promote economic efficiency and livability in areas of future development. Our national welfare therefore requires the provision of good urban transportation, with the properly balanced use of private vehicles and modern mass transport to help shape as well as serve urban growth."

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 into law, which passed the House by a vote of 212-129 and cleared the Senate 52–41, creating the Urban Mass Transportation Administration.{{cite web |url=https://transit.dot.gov/about/14103.html |title=The Beginnings of Federal Assistance for Public Transportation |publisher=Federal Transit Administration |access-date=November 18, 2011 |archive-date=July 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717225320/https://www.transit.dot.gov/about-fta |url-status=live }} The agency was charged with providing federal assistance for mass transit projects, including an initial $375 million in capital assistance over three years as mandated by the act. In 1991, the agency was renamed the Federal Transit Administration.{{cite web |url=http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/resources/clearinghouse/docs/utp/ch1.htm |title=Urban Transportation Planning In the United States: An Historical Overview |publisher=U.S. Department of Transportation |access-date=July 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719025606/http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/resources/clearinghouse/docs/utp/ch1.htm |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |url-status=dead }}

The current acting Administrator is Tariq Bokhari since May 1, 2025. Below is a list of past administrators.{{cite web|title=Heads of the Operating Administrations, U.S. Department of Transportation|date=March 1, 2009|publisher=Office of the Historian, U.S. DOT|url=http://ntl.bts.gov/historian/service.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912204303/http://ntl.bts.gov/historian/service.htm |archive-date=September 12, 2015|access-date=January 20, 2016}}

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• Metropolitan & Statewide Planning[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13093_3563.html Metropolitan & Statewide Planning (5303, 5304, 5305)]{{Dead link|date=November 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Urbanized Formula Funding[https://web.archive.org/web/20161101111515/https://www.transit.dot.gov/grants/13093_3561.html Urbanized Formula Funding (5307)]. Federal Transit Administration.
• Clean Fuels Grant Program[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_3560.html Clean Fuels Grant Program (5308)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717225248/https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/clean-fuels-grant-program-5308 |date=July 17, 2022 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Major Capital Investments[https://transit.dot.gov/12304.html Major Capital Investments (New Starts & Small Starts) (5309(b)(1))] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717225248/https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grant-programs/capital-investments/about-program |date=July 17, 2022 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Fixed Guideway Modernization[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13093_3558.html Fixed Guideway Modernization (5309 (b)(2))] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717225248/https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/grant-programs/fixed-guideway-modernization-5309-b2 |date=July 17, 2022 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Transportation for Elderly Persons and Persons with Disabilities[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13093_3556.html Transportation for Elderly Persons and Persons with Disabilities (5310)]{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Formula Grants for Other than Urbanized Areas[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13093_3555.html Formula Grants for Other than Urbanized Areas (5311)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828035746/https://www.transit.dot.gov/grants/13093_3555.html |date=August 28, 2018 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Public Transportation on Indian Reservations[https://web.archive.org/web/20161105165107/https://www.transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_3553.html Public Transportation on Indian Reservations (5311(c))]. Federal Transit Administration.. Federal Transit Administration.
• Rural Transit Assistance Program[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13093_3554.html Rural Transit Assistance Program (5311(b)(3))]{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Transit Cooperative Research Program[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_3552.html Transit Cooperative Research Program (5313)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828035729/https://www.transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_3552.html |date=August 28, 2018 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• National Research & Technology Program[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_3551.html National Research & Technology Program (5314)]{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Job Access and Reverse Commute Program[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13093_3550.html Job Access and Reverse Commute Program (5316)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717225317/https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/grant-programs/job-access-and-reverse-commute-program-5316 |date=July 17, 2022 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• New Freedom Program[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13093_3549.html New Freedom Program (5317)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828035741/https://www.transit.dot.gov/grants/13093_3549.html |date=August 28, 2018 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Bus and Bus Facilities[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_3557.html Bus and Bus Facilities (5309, 5318)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828035752/https://www.transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_3557.html |date=August 28, 2018 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks Program[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_6106.html Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks Program (5320)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717225250/https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/grant-programs/paul-s-sarbanes-transit-parks-program-5320 |date=July 17, 2022 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Alternatives Analysis[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_7395.html Alternatives Analysis (5339)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717225249/https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/alternatives-analysis-5339 |date=July 17, 2022 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• University Transportation Centers Program[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_3547.html University Transportation Centers Program (TEA-21 5505)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717225250/https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/university-transportation-centers-program-tea-21-5505 |date=July 17, 2022 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Over-the-Road Bus Program[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_11856.html Over-the-Road Bus Program] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717225250/https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/over-road-bus-program |date=July 17, 2022 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development), formerly TIGER (Transit Investment Generating Economic Recovery){{cite web |url=https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/better-utilizing-investments-leverage-development-build-transportation-grants-program |title=Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation Grants Program (formerly TIGER) |publisher=United States Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration |access-date=23 June 2022 |archive-date=6 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606232453/https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/better-utilizing-investments-leverage-development-build-transportation-grants-program |url-status=live }}[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_13647.html TIGER (USDOT)]{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) Program[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_11424.html TIGGER Program] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717225250/https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/tigger-program |date=July 17, 2022 }}. Federal Transit Administration.
• Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative Capital Grants Program[https://transit.dot.gov/grants/13094_13528.html Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative Capital Grants Program] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717225251/https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grant-programs/veterans-transportation/veterans-transportation-and-community-living |date=July 17, 2022 }}. Federal Transit Administration.

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Since 1974, the National Transit Database (NTD) has served as the repository for data on the financial, operating, and asset conditions of the public transit systems of the United States, statistics that FTA to uses to help apportion funding to urbanized and rural areas in the country. NTD data products, which are all free and open to the public, reflect a wide range of characteristics of its participating systems, including agency funding sources, vehicle and facility inventories, maintenance and state-of-good repair reports, safety data, catalogues of available transit services, modal breakdown, ridership estimates, and transit employment numbers.

Specific metrics reported to the NTD by participating agencies include Vehicle Revenue Miles (VRM), Vehicle Revenue Hours (VRH), Passenger Miles Traveled (PMT), Unlinked Passenger Trips (UPT), and Operating Expenses (OE).{{cite web |title=National Transit Database |url=https://www.transit.dot.gov/ntd |website=transit.gov |publisher=Federal Transit Administration |access-date=19 April 2025}}

• Public transportation in the United States

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.transit.dot.gov/}}
• [https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-guidance/legislation/arra/american-recovery-and-reinvestment-act-arra American Recovery & Reinvestment Act]
• [https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/federal-transit-administration Federal Transit Administration] in the Federal Register

{{DOT agencies}}

{{Lyndon B. Johnson}}

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Category:Public transportation in the United States

Category:Government agencies established in 1964

Category:United States Department of Transportation agencies

Transit